


Mosaic

by trulywicked



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Artistic Nature, Catharsis through Art, M/M, Make Up Fluff, Thoughts on Human Nature, argument
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-16
Updated: 2012-06-16
Packaged: 2017-11-07 21:19:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/435566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trulywicked/pseuds/trulywicked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fight with Itachi leaves Sai with something to prove.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mosaic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caidanu](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Caidanu).



  
It was a rare medium for him to work with because it held an element of danger for the sensitive fingertips that preferred to blend colors and smear shadows on a sketch pad. The edges of the brightly colored glass and ceramic shards could easily slice into his skin should he let his attention wander. He wasn't fond of mosaic work for that reason. He preferred working with a medium that would leave room for his attention to wander, for his senses to skitter off to another place.  
  
And that was exactly why he was about to create something in mosaic. His lover had accused him of being too flighty and unfocused because he had yet to hold down what you'd call a 'regular' job. He wasn't broke or poor by any means. Living in a tourist town made it easy to make enough money to live on just by setting up an easel near a popular tourist attraction. He made enough on his sketches, portraits, and caricatures to pay his bills and eat well.  
  
Making his living by doing what he enjoyed most was ideal for him but Itachi seemed to think it just proved that he didn't take life seriously. They'd had a rare rip-roaring fight about it a few days ago. A fight that had anyone who knew them witnessed it, they'd have sworn that Itachi and Sai had been replaced by pod people. They'd yelled, Sai had thrown something against the wall, and Itachi had actually slammed the door on his way out. All of which were supremely out of character actions but then again love made people behave in strange ways.  
  
As evidenced by the mosaic materials Sai was currently staring down at. He was an artistic soul who expressed himself best with and through art and right now he was dead set on proving Itachi wrong. So he was going to make something in a medium that required he be more focused on the mechanics of laying the pieces than he liked to be.  
  
He picked through the pieces, a pattern already set in his mind, for the colors he needed and laid them on the work surface. As the pattern took shape he paused, a piece of broken glass in hand, and studied it. He might not like working in mosaic but it occurred to him that it was an excellent metaphor for people's personalities, the relationships between people, and life in general.  
  
All the broken, cast off pieces that used to be a whole vessel or pane, falling together so perfectly into a pattern or picture was so like the many quotes, actions, scribblings, works, or off-hand comments of famous men and women, family, friends, or even complete strangers that fell together to form the pattern of someone's beliefs and personality. It was like the hodgepodge of personalities that formed relationships or even like the way each incident in the planet's history formed the life of the planet.  
  
And each little piece with it's own sharp edges that defended itself from other shards and chipped and scratched the other shards and damaged them, changing that shard and thereby changing the entire pattern. Exactly like the way people cut at each other with words and arguments, changing the way someone felt about something, even if only for a moment, and therefore changing the way a relationship worked and fit together.  
  
A sharp pain in his hand brought Sai out of his reverie to look down at his clenched fist. He opened his hand and hissed in both pain and annoyance at the little red glass piece that had cut into his skin and the crimson liquid that leaked from the cuts to pool around the glass in his palm. He cursed softly in irritation at himself for letting his attention wander then jumped when a hand wrapped around his wrist and a deep silky voice rumbled in his ear as that hand turned him to face his lover, "What did you do to yourself?"  
  
Sai stared at Itachi as the other man inspected the cut, removed the shard, setting it aside, tugged him towards the bathroom, and began treating the tiny injury. Elegant hands of pale color, yet slightly darker than Sai's own skin, cleaned the blood away gently. He narrowed his charcoal eyes on the beautiful face of his lover, "What are you doing here Itachi?"  
  
As he formulated his answer, Itachi kept his gaze on Sai's palm and the folded square of gauze he was using to soak up the blood and apply pressure to the cut so the bleeding would stop.  
  
After the fight he'd wandered around, thinking it was aimless until he'd found himself at the apartment loft his little brother and his little brother's lover, Naruto, shared. Those two fought with such severity and regularity that many figured it was a miracle they were still together. Yet they not only remained together but progressed in their relationship so if anyone could give Itachi an idea of how to deal with his current dilemma, it was they. Sasuke had taken one look at his carefully blank expression and ordered him to sit and tell him what happened.  
  
A highly edited explanation and small brotherly argument later and Sasuke had stalked, cursing vilely, to the darkroom where his lover was working, knocked sharply, and proceeded to drag Naruto to where Itachi was sitting with a sharp 'talk some sense into the idiot' then stalked to the kitchen to brew some tea.  
  
Once Naruto had clarified that the idiot in question was Itachi and not himself, the blond had coaxed the full story from Itachi and put things in perspective with two well worded questions. The blond had then shooed Itachi out of the apartment with vague comments about it being time for Naruto and Sasuke to have one of their own arguments. Since he knew that things got downright nuclear during the spats Sasuke had with the blond, Itachi had left quickly.  
  
He'd then spent the next couple of days brooding on how best to smooth things over with Sai, without sacrificing his own pride, only to have the course of action he'd decided on leak out of his brain the moment he'd seen the artist standing in front of the low work counter bleeding.  
  
Now Sai's question had brought him back to his purpose. He checked the cut and saw that the bleeding had stopped. He set about smearing Neosporin over the cut as he spoke, "I can't come to see my lover?"  
  
The younger man's brows knit in mild confusion, "We fought."  
  
Itachi hummed and placed a non-stick sterile pad over the cut then began wrapping Sai's hand, "So? Sasuke and Naruto fight all the time but that doesn't stop them from being around each other."  
  
"They live together. They have to be around each other."  
  
A small chuckle rumbled in Itachi's chest as he finished wrapping the hand and taped the gauze strip in place, "It's a miracle the loft is still standing."  
He began cleaning up the first aid paraphernalia, "I thought you didn't like doing mosaic."  
  
"I don't."  
  
Itachi turned to face his lover, a slight wrinkle of a frown on his brow, "Then why are you doing one?"  
  
"Because you have to be careful and _focused_ to avoid getting cut while working with the pieces."  
  
Understanding flooded the reddish brown eyes of the Uchiha. He reached out and took Sai's bandaged hand, bringing it up to his lips and placing a soft kiss over the spot the glass shard had dug into.  
  
Confusion clouded Sai's features, "Itachi?"  
  
The other man stepped closer, dropping Sai's hand in favor of slipping his arms around the artist's waist and nuzzled the side of his lover's jaw.  
  
"I'm an Uchiha. Possessive and perpetually horny. You won't move in with me because my apartment doesn't have the space or lighting to accommodate your work. Your apartment is only big enough for you, your work, and two nights of my things but you can't afford a bigger place on what you make from your art and you won't let me pay the difference."  
  
The tension the fight had left in Sai disappeared. Itachi had been campaigning for them to live together for several months now. The older man was essentially saying, without actually admitting it, that the frustration had gotten to him. Sai leaned into Itachi, "So it wasn't that I'm too frivolous for you?"  
  
Itachi kissed the spot below the other man's ear, "You're never frivolous. You're easily distracted, a little flighty but that is part of what makes you Sai," he brushed his lips over the younger man's chin, "my infuriating," another kiss was pressed to Sai's cheek, "impossibly arousing," the other cheek got the same treatment, "endearingly curious," a quick peck on the nose, "incredibly amusing," he laid a kiss on the artist's brow, "and endlessly adored lover," Itachi's lips then sank against Sai's in a tender kiss that held the apology the older man was too proud to voice.  
  
After a few moments of savoring Itachi's mouth, Sai pulled back, his fingers tracing abstract patterns on the black silk sleeves of Itachi's shirt, and murmured, "In that case, I suppose I can reconsider letting you pay the difference in rent for a bigger place."  
  
Itachi's eyes seemed to glow with pleasure and he leaned in to capture Sai's mouth with his own again. The artist smile and returned the kiss with contentment. the broken pieces of their argument settling into a new mosaic.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this nearly three years ago for a friend on Y Gallery, Caidanu, and am posting it here now because I still find it to be one of my best works. Sai's thoughts on how a mosaic resembles life are very much my own.


End file.
